Nursing student wins place on prestigious Florence Nightingale programme – after career pivot at 60
Angela Tester-Bedford spent almost three decades as a senior health and safety manager working corporately around the world before deciding to give it all up to retrain as a nurse at the University of Chichester.
Angela, 60, from Storrington, said it all began after her mother died of motor neurone disease in 2010.
“The last thing she said to me is I want you to always follow your dreams. Then I made the decision I wanted to be a nurse.”
Now in her third year of nursing at the University of Chichester, Angela has just beaten hundreds of applicants to win one of only 20 funded places on the Florence Nightingale Foundation’s (FNF) prestigious Early Career Nurses Leadership Programme – and has already secured a community nursing post with Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, starting in September.
She explained what led her to pursue nursing in later life and said: “I thought about doing nursing when I was younger, but it was not the right time. I was in the corporate world after having my children. I was a senior environment health and safety manager working globally for 28 years.”
She decided to leave her high-powered career and take an access course to follow her dream – before applying to university.
“No-one in my family has gone to university so I had no idea. I thought they wouldn’t want an older person,” Angela said.
“I came to an open day at Chichester, and I said to my husband I just want to come here. I have loved every minute of it. There are smaller cohorts and it’s really geared up to having mature students. Other universities I looked at had bigger cohorts and less support.”
Angela’s story is increasingly being heard by prospective students considering a similar leap. As a university nursing ambassador, she is helping to shift perceptions about who nursing, and higher education, is for.
“I have been an ambassador for nursing for the open days and I love it,” she said. “Everybody thinks university is for 18-21 years olds but it’s not. I realised I have got all this life experience. Everybody’s journey is different.”
On winning a place on the FNF programme, Angela said: “I thought I am going to have a go, I talked about my history and how I came to nursing. Then I received the email informing me they’d had hundreds of applicants, and I’d got one of the places.”
The interactive online leadership programme helps early-career nurses and midwives to develop their own authentic leadership style, enhance their skills and boost career opportunities – something Angela is keen to take into her community nursing role.
Explaining why community nursing was for her, she said: “I love the patients. I feel privileged to care for them and improve their wellbeing; it is a different sort of care.
“It’s keeping patients out of hospital, visiting patients in their own homes, holistic assessments, medication, palliative care, dressings, wounds, catheters, you name it.”
Reflecting on how far she’s come since she first visited Chichester at an open day, Angela said: “I’m going to be really sad to leave here. It has been so amazing, I can’t thank them enough.
“I can say I’ve followed my dream; I have achieved it.”
Dr Nita Muir, Head of School of Nursing and Allied Health at the University of Chichester, said: “We are all proud of Angela’s achievements, her journey shows us that it’s never too late to follow your dream. She took the brave step in returning to education after many years working in a global corporate role, has excelled in her studies and is due to commence work as Registered Adult Nurse locally.
“Her determination has been recognised in securing one of only 20 national places on the Florence Nightingale Foundation’s Early Career Nurses Leadership Programme. Her achievement inspires others to see that nursing welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds. We wish her all the very best in the future.”
